Bosnia (MNN) — God uses just about everything to lead people to Himself. This last winter, He used firewood to open doors to the Gospel through an Operation Mobilization program in Bosnia.
Speaking from Bosnia, OM Missionary Jael Buusaag says war has created the need for firewood. "A lot of houses and even some apartments that used to have central heating, well now their central heating doesn't work. So right now most of the people have to heat with the firewood during the winter."
Lack of central heat isn't the only problem, says Buusaag. "Firewood is really, really expensive here. And so just to buy enough to buy for one month would be more than most people's pensions."
So OM decided to help poor families by providing free firewood. Yael says, "As the wood company delivers the wood, we go and visit each of the families and bring them a food package. And then if there is an opportunity, they invite us in and we talk about God, and maybe they even let us pray for them."
Last year, friends like you helped OM provide firewood to 100 families in Bosnia to keep their homes warm through the winter.
According to Buusaag, this ministry is having an impact. "It's mostly a Muslim populated town. So we hadn't seen any results of our work for many, many years. But then, two winter ago, God gave us nine new believers all at once. And last year, three or four."
One woman, in particular, Jael will never forget. For the past two years, she would gladly receive the wood but showed no interest. But all that changed on their most-recent visit. "She said, 'You gave me this one book last time.' I asked, 'What book was it?' Well, she pulled out the New Testament. The result of that was that she felt such a change in her heart that she was ready to give her heart to Jesus."
OM is already raising money for next year's outreach. They need nearly $46,000 to serve 100 families. Pray that they'll not only be able to raise the money, but that they'll have the personnel needed to run the program.
